CARY, N.C. – Jack McCloskey pitched 5.2 strong innings and Jack Carson was a force offensively as the Northeast Stars took down the South Stripes, 4-3, in the gold medal game of the 11U National Team Identification Series (NTIS) Champions Cup.
Coming off a dramatic semifinal win over the Southwest Stars just an hour before, the Northeast kept its foot on the gas to score two runs in the bottom of the first in the gold medal bout. Carson reached base and scored on a double steal, and Leonard Stephens III came home shortly after on a throwing error to go up 2-0 early on.
The South Stripes, who also had a tight semifinal victory in the morning–beating the South Stars–almost answered immediately in the top of the second. But with two outs, catcher Logan May erased a would-be base stealer to keep the Northeast in front by two.
That momentum carried over into the bottom of the second as the Northeast doubled its lead. With two runners in scoring position, Carson drilled a two-run single into right field to give the Stripes a 4-0 advantage.
McCloskey, who got the start shortly after securing a save in the semifinals, kept the South Stripes off the board until the bottom of the fourth when the Stripes put together a huge rally to nearly tie the game. The squad loaded the bases with nobody out and finally cracked the scoreboard on an RBI fielder’s choice by Declan Cretti. A balk followed shortly after to trim the Stripes’ deficit to two runs, and Carlos Guerra then hammered an RBI single to make it 4-3 in the fourth before McCloskey stopped the bleeding to stay in front.
The pitchers exchanged zeroes over the next couple of frames, setting up for a dramatic finish in the late innings. The Stripes got a leadoff baserunner in the sixth and knocked McCloskey out of the game, but reliever Jaxson May entered out of the Northeast bullpen to keep the one-run lead intact.
May returned to the mound in the top of the seventh, looking for three more outs to secure the save. Mason Fortman led off for the South with an opposite-field single to put the tying run on base, and a groundout advanced him to second. After another groundout put Fortman on third base with two outs, May coaxed a pop up to shortstop for the final out to give the Northeast its first gold medal of the 2024 NTIS Champions Cup.
It's the second all-time gold medal at the 11U NTIS Champions Cup for the Northeast, as the region also secured the title in 2022.
In the bronze medal game, the Southwest Stars beat the South Stars, 6-2, to nab the Southwest’s seventh all-time medal at the 11U level. It is the second time in five summers that the Southwest has earned an 11U bronze.
